Gmarket shopping guidelines

FROM TAOBAO to GMARKET

Yesterday, I have made my first purchase from gmarket. Before turning to gmarket, I was a very loyal customer to taobao.com. From time to time, I would order from stores that sell "made in korea" clothing and/or accessories because the quality of the products are so much better. However, I realized that these stores could be selling a lot more than the original price of the products. Also, it usually takes a month for the product to reach my hands which means I always have to order ahead because what could fit the weather now will not fit for the weather in one month. You might ask why it would take so long for the products to be shipped out. Usually in korea, the suppliers would take care of the domestic orders first and deal with the oversea orders later. The chinese merchants usually have to wait awhile before the korean suppliers ship out their orders from Korea. Sometimes, you are unlucky, some styles will go out of stock for the chinese merchants because stocks have been all sold to local merchants. 

SHIPPING

So I figured why do I have to wait and go thru all those annoying procedures to get something from korea through taobao if I could order straight from the supplier on gmarket. Even if you are an oversea customer from gmarket, korean suppliers will see your order as a domestic buyer because they only have to ship to the gmarket warehouse. They will give your order priority over the ordes made from the taobao merchants. Gmarket, after receiving all your goods in the order, will combine all your products and ship out to your oversea address. Of course you will need to pay a little shipping fee, but it won't cost a fortune, and it's usually a little amount comparing to the amount you are paying for the products you are buying. 

NEED TO LEARN KOREAN?

Some people might worry abt shopping on gmarket because everything's in korean. You need not to worry because there is an English version of gmarket now. However, one thing that you should all be aware of is that some promotions or sales are only available for the korean version of gmarket and not available for the english version. Their server recognizes you as a foreigner if you choose to browse around the english version of gmarket. AND just like all other countries, Korea wants to provide the best deal to their locals; so this is understandable. If you really want the deals and can't understand korean, I advice you to use google translator. Also, make sure that there is a little "blue airplane" icon on the product viewing page to make sure that the seller are willing to ship oversea. 

FIRST EXPERIENCE

My first experience with gmarket was quite pleasant. I used the english version because I wanted to save the hassle of loading google translator and the webpage at the same time because gmarket is already quite slow at loading. Since I have tried buying clothes from korea numerous times already, I don't worry about their quality. Regarding their shipping time, I made an order last night around 9pm and 1 product out of 9 items has been shipping out already (it's now 2:55pm the next day); 3 products are expected to be shipped out tomorrow. I suspect the whole order to be shipped out from gmarket warehouse next week. I have to say I am impressed with how fast Korean ppl work. 

I will later on do a post and show you guys some pieces I have bought from gmarket and comment on its overall service. Stay tuned. 

Love,

Christy